Investing morphs into gambling | HeraldNet.com - Letters. Published: Wednesday, January 4, 2012, 12:01 a.m. The world of finance, unfortunately, lost track of the difference between gambling and investing. Financial wizards speak of placing "bets" when they discuss investment decisions. Decisions that produce poor results become "bad bets.
" Too many money managers and investment wizards have resorted to a gambling mentality. They placed "bets" on investments consisting of artificial money and profit calculations based on little more than numerology. Excessive testosterone also led many fund managers to "bet the house. " "Betting" refers to an activity in a gambling casino where random chance (aka "luck") dictates the outcome. People responsible for managing other people's money need to do a lot of thinking to do it successfully. Granted, investment involves risk. There apparently is no law against treating investment decisions as if they are little more than roulette or craps games. Mike Manley Snohomish. The real divide in America - 2012 Elections.
Less than a year from the presidential election, the harrowing television graphics, tired sports metaphor and end-of-the-world fundraising pitches are once again upon us. You know the script — Democrats versus Republicans, good versus evil, with-us-or-against-us. Whichever team you happen to be on, you are encouraged to see it as your side’s phalanx lining up on the battlefield against the other’s, in hopes that this time, your troop offensive will finally vanquish the despised opponent once and for all. But while so much of our culture asks us to rely on this vapid red-versus-blue analysis to understand American society, the truth is there are other binary constructs that better explain the very real chasms separating us.
While certainly as crude as Red versus Blue, these paired archetypes better reflect the political and cultural gaps that cleave America. To clarify these two broad terms, let’s review their contemporary meaning. Can microfinance improve health services to the poor? « Global Health Ideas. The question was raised on the Pienso blog [Dec 18 "Link Drop"] in reference to a Harvard Business School newsletter Q&A [Dec 13, "Improving public health for the poor"] with Michael Chu, Harvard Business School lecturer and one-time micro-financier. Chu developed Project Antares [course description at bottom of HBS link] with colleagues at Harvard School of Public Health to explore means of delivering public goods and services via the private sector. Microfinance may offer a window on new methods for widening access to healthcare for the poor, says Harvard Business School’s Michael Chu… Bringing together public healthcare and market forces “could have huge impact,” he says.
I have two problems with the interview and some praise for taking on issues outside the standard purview of business schools. First criticism: The language in the Q&A comes off at times as naive - Martha Lagace: What is missing by defining health, as we do today, as a public good? ADDENDUM Dec 20th: Like this: Countries test new ways to finance health care.